Valve for steam engines



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. H. WARD.

VALVE EOE STEAM ENGINES.

No. 338,004. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

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`(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. T. H. WARD.

VALVE POR STEAM ENGINES.

No. 338,004. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

(No Model.) fr Sheets-Sheet 3.

T. H. WARD.

VALVE EOE STEAM ENGINES.

No. 338,004. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4. T. H. WARD.

VALVE FOR STEAM ENGINES.

No. 338,004. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

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FFICE@ THOMAS HENRY VARD, OF TIPTON, COUNTY OF STAFFORD, ENGLAND.

VALVE FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No 338,00@r dated Marsh 16,1886.

Application led July '26, 1883. Serial No. 101,967. (No model.) Patented in England June 16,1882, No. 2,848; in France June 26,

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs HENRY WARD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Tipton, county of Stafford, England, haveinvented certain Improvements in Valves for Steam-Eugines,(for which I have obtained British Letters Patent No. 2,848, dated Julie 16,1882; French Patent- No. 149,773, dated June 26, 1882; Belgian Patent No. 58,373, dated July 8, 1882, and German Patent No. 28,403, dated June 26, 1882,) of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention consists of certain improvements in the construction ofthe steam-chests and valves of steam-engines,designed with the view of economizing room, saving metal, and providing a convenient and economical arrangement of parts, as fully described hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are sections, taken at right angles to each other, showing my present invention applied to a compound tandem-engine, such as de` scribed in my British Patent No. 4,672 of 1881. Figs. 8 and et are sectional views of the high and low pressure cylinders on opposite sides of the intermediate casting, and both looking toward the latter. Fig. is a sectional plan view through the valve-chest, and Fig. Gis an enlarged sectional view showing some of the steam-ports.

The valves in my present invention are equilibrium slide-valves, and where they are applied to compound tandem-engines such as shown, they are arranged on each side of the casting which separates the high and low pressure cylinders. I form the inlet and outlet ports, covered by the said valves, in the shape of the letter H, as illustrated in Fig. l and by dotted linesin Figs. 3 and 4, so that the valves themselves may have a corresponding form. The recessed partsleave convenient spaces for the exhaust-passages p for carrying the eX- haust-steam from the steam-space below the covers O outinto the exhaust-pipe E, and also leave convenient spaces for the bolts p,which connect the said covers O, as shown more fully in Fig. 2. Boom is thus econornized and met-al saved, and a convenient and economical construction provided.

The slide-valves P are connected together by a cross-pin, p2, through which passes a rod, 1f, extending on each side (in the case of twin valves which command the ports of compound engines) through tubes or passages q, Figs. l and 5, forming conduits for the steam from the steam-inlet chamber A past the various passages to the small chamber ron each side. In these steam-chambers i' slide piston-valves or plungers p'*,fixed to therespective ends ofthe said rod pi, to which the slide-valves I are attached.

In the steam-engine described in my aforesaid British patent, the slide-valves are shown and described as being operated mechanically; but in the present case I have shown them as being adapted to be operated by steam by destroying the equilibrium of the pressure of steam on the piston-valves pt. The following is aconvenient way of carrying this into effect: In connection with each chamberl' is asecond steam-chamber, s, (shown more fully in Fig. 7,)

provided with a piston-valve, t, on the saine rod willi a beat-valve, t2, which in its normal position is pressed to its seat by a spring, t3. Each chamber 1" communicates through a bypass, r, with the chamber s-that is to say, that part of it which constitutes the space between the piston-valve and the beat-valve t2. Leading from the chamber s, at the outer side of this beat-valve t2, is a passage, s2, communicating between the said chamber s" and one or other of the ports of the high-pressure cylinder, Fig. 1. The inner side ofthe piston-valvetis open to the chamber s, with which communicates a pipe, w, in com munieation with passages a2 from the respective ends of the high-pressure cylinder, Figs. 1 and 4.

It should be understood that the constructions described are in duplicate-one on one side ofthe casting for Operating the slide-valves P in one direction, and that on the other side of the casting for moving the said valves in the opposite direction-as shown in Figs. land 5.

In the construction described the inlet-steam passes in opposite directions through the tubes q into the opposite steam-chambers, r, in which the piston-valvesp operate,and the steam leaks through a small passage or passages in or around the said valves to the other sides thereof, so that these valves are kept in equilibrium.

lVhen steam is admitted on one side of the IOC) ' passage s2.

' working-piston, as soon as the piston has coni pleted or nearly completed its stroke a por tion of the steam enters by the passage nl and pipe n, Figs. l and 4, to the steam-chamber s3 on one side and forces the pistonvalve t therein back. The beat-valve t2 is therefore caused to open so that the steamin the chamber r behind the piston-valve p4 passes through the by-pass r2 into the chamber s and out by the Thus the steam escapes more rapidly thansteam can leak through or past the piston-valvep, so that the equilibrium is destroyed, and these piston-valves are consequently moved and shift the slide-valves P to admit steam to the other side of the pistons of the steam-cylinders. The same operation takes place on the other side of the valve-actuating device, and so on alternately, so that the slide-valves arev actuated by the relief of steam-pressure alternately from one and the other of the chambers r. In order to relieve the pressure from these chambers r by hand, to move the slide-valves, when required, a pas sage. w, is provided from each chamber 1' to the outside, as more fully illustrated in Fig. 7. This passage w is normally closed by a valve, wwhich valve is attached to a spring-rod,w3, extending to the outside. When one of these rods is pushed inward, the steam behind the piston-valve p* can escape through a space or spiral groove around the rod w3 of the valve w, so that the slide-valves may be caused to move in one direction or the other independently of the passages from the steam-cylinders.

I wish it to be understood, however, that I do not claim in this application the devices for operating the slide-valves by steam, since, so

far as my present inventionis-concerned, they In testimony whereof I have signed my name n to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. y

THOMAS HENRY W ARD. [L. s.] Witnesses:

VVILsoN KING, Consulate of the United States, Birmingham.

J. BRAME, U. S. Consulate, Birmingham. 

